The LF1 settlement system clearly displays strong continuities with that of the MF. For the most part, the same villages remain prominent as in the MF. The LF2 settlement system may be described in terms of five processes: 1) decreasing population growth rate, 2) increasing settlement system stability, 3) an increase in the rate of founding of small settlements, 4) the emergence, for the first time, of a three-tiered site size hierarchy and 5) population decline or stagnation outside the major centers. I will discuss each of these in turn.